Monday, July 9, 2012

Single Parents: Be Loud When Celebrating Your Child's Accomplishments

     When you are a single parent and your child has an accomplishment, you celebrate just a little louder than other parents.  You are excited about that accomplishment not only because your child, did it but because you, as a single parent, helped get your child to that point by yourself!
     Last year when my son received The State Assembly's Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, I wanted to do back flips through the auditorium.  First of all, I had no idea that he was even receiving that award and second, it was the highest award that you could receive!  When they called his name, I wanted to act like I was Dominique Dawes at the Olympics and do a triple somersault to the stage, pump my fist in the air and scream, "YES!  That's MY baby!  HE DID THAT!!"  I could not have been more prouder.
     I can not explain how much validation came from my son receiving that award.  All the hours that I worked as a retail store manager, yet coming home and making sure that his homework was done correctly and that he read 30 + minutes a day, plus, the workbooks that we did on the weekends and during vacations to improve his skills, all paid off.  Although TJ had earned that award, I felt like "WE" had earned it.  My son, the product of a single mother, who worked 50+ hours a week, who had to depend on sitters and family members to care for him while I worked nights and weekends, won The State Assembly Award.  It all was worth it, at that very moment.
     As I walked up to the stage to take a picture of my son, the genius, I smiled with pride and with tears in my eyes because I knew that although I was all alone on this road called parenthood, I was doing a good job and we were going to be alright!!

2 comments:

  1. I love this post! My mom is a single mom...she raised me. I so hear her voice in yours. Your son is so lucky to have you, as I am so lucky to have her. You and my mom gave and are giving their children the strength and confidence to go forward into good lives.

    I'm sharing your post with my mom and with a project near and dear to me called "A Woman's Life's Work." I'll let you know more about that later.

    I'm so glad you found my Meal Planning for One blog and left a comment. I probably wouldn't have found you any other way. :) ~Sherri

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  2. Thanks Sherri for stopping by and the compliment. I look forward to hearing from you. So glad we "met"!

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